Alzheimer's disease (“Alzheimer's”), dementia and other dementia-like symptoms are characterized by microscopic changes in the brain due to the destruction and death of nerve cells causing memory failure, personality changes, problems carrying out daily activities and other symptoms. The brain has approximately 100 billion nerve cells or neurons with each neuron connecting with many other neurons to form the communication network of the brain. In the context of memory, certain groups of nerve cells have the special function involved in thinking, learning and remembering. While it is not certain where such special-function nerve cells break down and become damaged, but as the damage spreads, these nerve cells lose their ability to do their function and eventually die, causing irreversible changes in the brain. Two abnormal structures called plaques and tangles are prime suspects in damaging and killing nerve cells.
The cause of Alzheimer's disease, dementia and other dementia-like symptoms cannot be determined in a number of patients; however, the most commonly accepted theory posits that it is the result of (1) plaque or deposits of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid that build up in the spaces between nerve cells an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, e.g., neurotransmitters; and (2) a protein tau that builds up inside cells and tangles nerve cells. Persons with Alzheimer's and other dementia have abnormal build up of these plaques and tangles. Scientists postulate that plaques and tangles play a critical role in blocking communication among nerve cells and disrupting the processes nerve cells need to survive. The effects include the destruction and death of nerve cells resulting in memory failure, personality changes, problems carrying out daily activities, and other symptoms of Alzheimer's, dementia, and other dementia-like conditions.
There is currently no effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease. It is estimated that 5.2 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer's disease in 2013 including an estimated 5 million people age 65 and older and approximately 200,000 individuals younger than age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer's. By 2025 it is estimated that the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer's will increase 40 percent to 7.1 million, and by 2050, may triple to a projected 13.8 million. As a result, there is a need for an apparatus, system and method to prevent, slow, stop, or even cure Alzheimer's disease.
Moreover, it is estimated that the direct costs of caring for those with Alzheimer's to Americans with the disease will reach $203 billion, including $142 billion in costs to Medicare and Medicaid. Additional projections of total payments for health care, long-term care and hospice for people with Alzheimer's (and other dementias) are projected to increase from $203 billion in 2013 to $1.2 trillion in 2050 (in current dollars), representing a 500% increase in combined Medicare and Medicaid spending. As a result of the increase cost there is a need for an apparatus, system and method to prevent, slow, stop, or even cure Alzheimer's disease.
A drug-free approach, or complementing treatment, would be advantageous, as it would avoid the drug interactions and drug sensitivities common in the treatment of many illnesses. A small, portable system would have advantages over large facility-based systems, such as in hospitals, so as to have widespread availability of the device, for example, available to remote areas, family practitioner, clinics, and the like. As a result, there is a long-felt need for a portable, wearable, proximal, substantially uniform RF-field based apparatus useful to treat Alzheimer's disease that overcomes the problems of the prior art.
What is desired, then, is an apparatus, system and method to apply a substantially uniform RF field in a portable, wearable, proximal device to treat Alzheimer's disease with advantages of low cost, effective, efficient, durable and resilient to failure.